Small Business Today Magazine MAR 2016 AMERICAN SERVICES | Page 11

Tony & Larry make sure that the entire leadership team and technicians are on the same page when it comes to providing
excellence and total client satisfaction. Photo courtesy of American Services.

and have never had a disagreement.
Many partnerships can learn a lot from
their example. From the get-go, they established a clear division of their responsibilities. Tony takes care of the marketing, sales, and business development and
Larry takes care of the day-to-day operations and management.
Always on a quest for ways to improve
and grow their business, five years ago,
Larry and Tony bought the Galveston
based ARAMCO Outside Blinds Company that has been in operation since 1938.
Larry explained, “ARAMCO was going
out of business when the grandson of
the original founder died. They had their
own sales force and their own installers.
When we acquired them, we established
a different marketing strategy to set up
dealers and distributors nationwide and
then we became strictly a manufacturer.”
The ARAMCO factory manufactures
accordion shutters, rolling shutters, solar
screens, and aluminum louvered blinds.
The blinds are a very unique energy efficient product that goes on the outside of
the window. They are great for protecting homes and businesses against the
hot summer sun, winter cold, high winds,
and intruders in a very effective and inexpensive way.
Once again, in their ongoing pursuit
to add something new and innovative
each year, American Services became

approved installers by Underwriters Laboratories in 2014 for lightning protection
systems and they are steadily moving forward in growing that new business unit.
Larry and Tony do business with Daikin Industries, Ltd., a Japanese firm that is
the largest air conditioning manufacturer
in the world. Recently, Daikin acquired
Goodman Manufacturing, McQuay International, and the Amana Corporation.
Daikin is building a 4.2 million-squarefoot facility in Waller, Texas to manufacture air conditioning equipment. American Services is one of the few HVAC
contractors approved to commission and
service their Daikin equipment.”
One of the many things that set American Services apart from other companies
like them is that both Larry and Tony are
committed to excellence, above and beyond.
“When we go to take care of our customers, we always deliver excellent work.
There is no second best,” stated Tony. Larry and Tony also refer to their customers
as clients because they are always getting
repeat business.
American Services is available seven days a week and even after hours for
emergencies. Larry proudly stated, “We
do not have one single unhappy customer. All of our technicians are under my
personal scrutiny so they put booties on

when they go into a residence; they wear
clean uniforms; they drive late model,
clean trucks; they’re well groomed; they’re
respectful; and they don’t do drugs. Our
clients are usually housewives and their
children may be in the home so our technicians are mindful of where they go. In
addition, we stand behind our work. The
other part is that we have a very competitive pricing structure and we bring value
to the relationship with our clients.”
Larry added, “On the commercial side,
we do the same thing. I believe that if
you give the customer exactly what the
customer expects, there is nothing for
them to get excited about. If you give
them more than what they’re asking for,
above and beyond and at a reasonable
price, then they’re excited. That is what
I call providing the WOW factor. I’ll even
ask my technicians, ‘Where’s the WOW
here?’ Most of the other air conditioning
companies run either a phone bank or
they’re outsourced to Florida or Chicago
or Cincinnati. Others have an answering
service but we answer the phone in person by either Tony or me or by one of our
technicians. We start every day at seven
in the morning and even if it’s Friday after
five in the evening, we answer the phone
and our technicians are sent out.”
Larry proudly stated, “We have some
great people working for us. They understand exactly what our concept is. Most
of them have been with us for a long, long
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